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The would-be murder weapon was a perfume bottle specially adapted to hold and deploy the nerve agent.

It was faked to look like a Nina Ricci scent in a fancy pink box. After the attack the contaminated weapon was “recklessly” thrown away in the street leading to the death of mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess.

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Yesterday Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu issued an extraordinary global witness appeal as inquiries by 250 detectives continued in a bid to reveal the names of the senior Russian figures who sanctioned the mission.

He said: “We will not stop until we get some justice for Dawn and the other victims. “We now need to hear from the public,” he added. “I am appealing to anyone who has information about the suspects named today to contact police.”

The pair, who travelled on Russian passports with visas, visited Britain several times in the run-up to the attack on the Skripals.

It is likely they carried out reconnaissance on their target or met with co-conspirators to finalise the plan.

But it is also possible they met up with other Russian men and women in the UK who may have clues to their real identities.

Mr Basu said: “I am asking for the public’s help worldwide. Do you recognise the suspects from the CCTV? Do you know them? “Did you see them while they were in the UK and in particular during their time in Salisbury?”

The assassins return to Salisbury via Waterloo at 11.48am (Image: PA)

Police also want to hear from anyone who saw the perfume bottle in a pink box later found by Ms Sturgess’s partner Charlie Rowley.

Believing the bottle contained real scent, Ms Sturgess squirted novichok on her wrists at her boyfriend’s home in Amesbury, Wiltshire.

She fell into a coma soon after and died in hospital 10 days later.

Mr Rowley, 45, was contaminated but survived. Experts are convinced the novichok in the perfume bottle is the same nerve agent used in the attempt to kill Mr Skripal and his daughter.

Last night Mr Rowley told ITV News: “I don’t recognise the two suspects, but I want to see them brought to justice.

“I am glad that police are making progress with their investigation but at the same time, it’s upsetting to see Dawn’s face everywhere, because it brings all the hurt and pain at losing her back to reality.”

Mr Rowley, who is back in hospital suffering meningitis, added:“It is progress to see the suspects identified.”

Petrov and Boshirov are likely to be charged with the manslaughter of Ms Sturgess once inquiries into the perfume bottle and box are exhausted. Specialist offices meticulously examined 11,000 hours of CCTV footage to identify Petrov and Boshirov as suspects and produce a detailed timeline of their movements.

Detectives positively identified them as prime suspects in May and immediately carried out tests on a room used by them at the £48-a-night City Stay Hotel in Bow, east London.

Specialists at Porton Down found very small traces of the nerve agent on two swabs taken from the room.

The level of contamination was so low, there was no cause for concern.

The hotel remains open for business. However, the Yard still wants anyone who stayed at the hotel between March 4 and May 4 to contact police.

Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer for England, said former guests have nothing to fear but urged them to come forward. People who travelled on trains, planes and other public transport with the assassins between March 2 and March 4 are not at risk, Dame Sally added.

She said: “The risk to the public remains low – provided that our advice not to pick up unknown objects is followed.”

The probe will continue for months if not years. Similar inquiries were carried out after the murder of ex-KGB spy Litvinenko who drank tea laced with radioactive polonium-210 at a hotel in 2006.

The Yard identified the two men responsible for the killing. But they fled to Russia soon after and are out of reach of British justice.

Anyone with information or any former City Stay guests are urged to contact the detectives on 0800 78932 or email salisbury2018@met.police.co.uk

Later, Mr Rowley opens the bottle at his home and Dawn Sturgess sprays some of the contents (Image: ITV)

The assassins

March 2 THE assassins fly from Moscow to Gatwick onboard Aeroflot flight SU2588 landing at 3pm. One of them carries the nerve agent in his hand luggage. They get on a train and arrive at London’s Victoria station at 5.40pm before travelling to the City Stay Hotel, in Bow, east London.

March 3 PETROV and Boshirov leave the City Stay Hotel, which is next door to the Bow Church Docklands Light Railway station. They travel by underground to Waterloo station, arriving at 11.45am. Shortly afterwards, they catch a South West train to Salisbury, which pulls in at 2.25pm. After a reconnaissance of the streets around Sergei Skripal’s home, they return to Salisbury station at 4.11pm and head back to London. Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said: “We assess this trip was for reconnaissance of the Salisbury area.”

March 4 THE assassins return to Salisbury via Waterloo at 11.48am, carrying the novichok in a fake perfume bottle. Just 10 minutes later, CCTV captures them striding along Wilton Road moments before they spray the nerve agent on Mr Skripal’s front door. At 1.05pm, another CCTV camera films them strolling down Fisherton Road. They are smirking and grinning, their deadly mission nearly over.

THE assassins enter Salisbury station at 1.50pm after recklessly throwing away the novichok “perfume” bottle and its box. Boshirov is seen here in front and Petrov is at the rear.

POISONED by novichok, Mr Skripal and his daughter collapse on a bench near the Maltings in Salisbury. Police and paramedics are alerted at 4.15pm but have no idea what caused them to fall ill. By the time doctors realise they have been poisoned by a nerve agent, Petrov and Boshirov are safe back in Moscow.

AT 7.28pm, Petrov and Boshirov calmly stroll through passport control at Heathrow Airport and prepare to board Aeroflot flight SU2582 back to Moscow. They are travelling on genuine passports and visas and attract no suspicion from airport officials.

Victims

June 27

CHARLIE Rowley finds the perfume bottle in a box. He thinks it was in a charity bin in Salisbury. Later, Mr Rowley opens the bottle at his home and Dawn Sturgess sprays some of the contents onto her wrists. She then falls ill and is rushed to hospital but dies 10 days later. Mr Rowley later falls dangerously ill but survives